Bodies lay, strewn out across the battle field. The men they fought and defeated where unlike most soldiers he had ever encountered. The battle strategy they had used, it had been enough to kill most of his fellow soldiers, they few still standing were that much of a miracle. One man, his fellow brother, took off his helmet and took a flag from one of the corpses. "I declare this win, in the name of Gaius Julius Caesar!" The remaining men cheer and beat on their shields with their weapons. He, however wandered the battlefield, in awe, that whoever these people where allowed women to fight with them. As he passed the bodies, he all noticed that they all looked the same with fair skin and gold hair, something that the most noble women in Rome would kill for. "Daryl!"
He jumps at the sudden burst of his name, but responds correctly. "If you find any survivors-" Rick stopped and gave him a nod. "Do whatever you feel is best."
So Daryl searches, among the black smoke that fills they air, turning over fair skinned bodies and killing those who are suffering. These men, these strange men from another land are painted in such a way that they almost look like demons, demons with hair of gold and skin of the finest of pearls. Daryl pockets whatever treasures these men have on them, some are primitive statues of a god he has never seen before. It's another thing that makes him curious about these people and their gods. These men who fought in furs and leather armors and made shield barriers. He stops in his tracks suddenly when he sees a fair skin maiden. Her gold hair is caked in mud and the paint on her face his washing off. There is a arrow stuck in her side, something that would have been enough to kill her, but to most likely stun her. Against his best judgment, he leans down to move a strand of hair out of her face and he his quickly met with a sword pointed at his chest plate and words in tongue that he couldn't understand. Her eyes are the first thing that draws him in. They are wild and alert, he is sure that the hate boiling within them sees his head on a stake, but they are so blue and so beautiful. This woman, whoever she is, must have been fashioned by Jupiter himself and given the beauty of Venus. Against all odds, and mostly because the girl is to tired to even move, he gently takes the sword from her hand and places it in his belt before carefully gathering the injured girl in his arms and claiming her as his once he reached the rest of his men.
It was a sight to be seen though, the rest of the men were about to give up and go home, tired of waiting for Daryl, for most of them were excited to go back and see their wives and their families. But they had to admit, it was breath taking to see Daryl finally emerging from the huge billows of black smoke, bloody and caked with dirt and soot with a woman in his arms. To Rick, it was like he was bearing witness to the god of war, Mars, emerging from a battle with his lover, the Goddess of beauty, Venus in his arms. Daryl says nothing as he walks straight to his horse and carefully gets the girl on first before climbing on after her. Rick glances over at his closest friend and Daryl only regards him with a look.
He wonders what was going through Daryl's head as they venture back to Rome. The girl on the horse is coming in and out of consciousness and speaking the tongue of her fallen brothers and sisters. She is on the verge of life and death and he notices Daryl holding onto her side, a way to keep the nameless woman alive. "How do you plan to explain this girl to my wife?" Rick finally asks Daryl.
Daryl doesn't answer at first, but in all reality, he does pay his way and keeps to himself in his small space on the Grime's manor. "There's no need to explain, the girl's a survivor, I found her, she's my slave."
The girl seemed to pick up on Daryl's words and tries to move again. "No," Her words are heavily laced in an accent they have both never heard before. "I am no ones slave" She muttered a few names under her breath before finally passing out again.
When they ride into Rome, the people do not cheer, they bow their heads in a mixture of fear and consideration. They would all meet in front of Ceaser tomorrow, the five that survived the battle. They would collect gold and be heroes, but tonight, both Rick and Daryl were more then grateful to be home.
Before long the men depart and both Rick and Daryl, along with the wounded girl stand at the front gates of the manor. "Well, are you gonna just stand there or are you going to open it?" Daryl asks. "Because in case you haven't noticed, I have a dying girl in my arms and I'd like to save her from her fate."
Rick looks over at his friend, still confused on why he even saved the girl to begin with and opened up the front gate. Daylight streamed through the small court yard and life bustled inside of it. The home of Rick Grimes wasn't that extravagant, It was a two story stone home. The top level was where Rick and his small family lived and the bottom was were a few friends and slaves slept. The court yard was made of cobble stone with a large table sitting in the middle of it. The girl in Daryl's arms stirred slightly and opened one blue orb to see a woman with dark hair and a boy running toward the man her captor called Rick. It was the mans family- and a baby, a baby was in the arms of the woman and oh how happy did that man look when he took the baby in his arms. She looked back up at the gruff man that took her from seeing her family again and glared at him. Suddenly she felt eyes on her, the eyes of Rick's wife and children, the eyes of the people who lived here. "Is she dead?" asked a boyish voice.
"No, Carl, she's just badly hurt." It was her captor speaking, his voice was so gruff. "Lori, get Amy and Carol, the girl needs to be taken care of."
She's taken under this small awning and laid into a bed. It had to be the sleeping place of the man who took her and it made her cringe when her laid her down in it. Two women came bustling in, one older with a hair cut of a man and another with long blond hair. They ask her questions in a tongue she could only slightly understand as they took of her armor and began working on her wound. She felt herself going in and out of sleep as the women asked more questions. It was then when she finally understood. They asked for her name, they wanted her name and it quickly came out of her mouth as sleep took over. "Beth."
Beth wakes up some time later to the sounds of people talking and laughing. Her ears pick up the sounds of children playing and a baby crying, she hears the bang of a hammer against steel and chickens clucking outside. At first, she thinks she is back in her home land, under the watchful eye of Odin. Until a warm breeze hits her face and she feels the heat in the air. Now she's in another land, under the gaze of other gods, gods that she didn't even know. As Beth went to sit up, she felt something attempt to push her back down onto the bed. The hands were rough and calloused- she knew those hands, it was the hands that picked her up from the battle field. Her arms fight back and she glares at the man who came into her vision, this man called Daryl.
"Stop," He tells her in a cool tone. "That's enough, you're safe, you're okay." She want's to laugh at that, she wants to laugh at him. She was not okay and she didn't believe that she was safe. "I know you can understand me, Rick said it must mean that you were educated." But Beth still fights back, and it gives her joy that it annoys him. "Listen, you pull out your stitches if you keep this up, now stop, Beth!" She freezes and Daryl smirks. "People are talking and they say that you and your people are called Vikings, you sail the oceans takings lands- did you really think you could have taken Rome?" He asks her and of course she doesn't say. "Maybe you wanted the farm land, or maybe some small towns, but it wouldn't last long. The way you're people fought, it was a sight- but, it can't take us down." Daryl rubbed his hands together as the girl looked at him with cold eyes. "Now the reason I took you- you were the only survivor, everyone else was dead, I checked. Now understand that I could have done many things to you, killed you, sold you to a whore house, put you in a cage or hand you over to the people of the town that you destroyed. But, I'd rather keep you, I need my own house slave and it'd be a help to Rick's wife." Beth doesn't thank him, why would she? Her father, her sister and her brother were likely dead. Her Mother would likely be killed back in her homeland, the whole thing made her turn her back to the man as he kept on talking. "You will address me as Master and you will come when I call." His voice was strong, but she sore she heard a waver in his voice. "When you are fully healed, you will begin your duties." When she didn't respond, Daryl sighed and stood up. "I know you don't like this and I already know you hate me, but remember the other fates I saved you from, be grateful."
The sound of his chair scraping across the stone floor alerts her that he is getting up and leaving her to her lonesome. She turned only a bit to see the swish of the curtain as he left. It was then Beth had the time to check on her injury. Her small hand traced over the bandage and she felt a mixture of excitement before pain and grief rushed over her. This was her first scar, but it also showed how the mighty Greene family had fallen, her most celebrated, father, The Earl of their town was dead before her very eyes. Now she wasn't home in Sweden, she was in Rome, a place that her father oh so foolishly thought he could concur. Beth could only close her eyes as she began to pray. She prayed to Odin and Thor, Freya and Frey, and even Loki. Beth hoped that maybe her prayers to her gods could be answered within the land of the roman gods.